How long do you need?
Treatment discussion need to be short. Really short.
Over the past 12 years or so I’ve been very fortunate to have gone into many practices and watched dentists working with patients.
Something that often surprises me is how long dentists take to explain treatment to patients.
The worst example ever
Of all the dentists who I’ve ever observed, the worst one took 45 minutes to explain treatment to the patient. It was a simple case of spaces between the front teeth that the patient wanted closed.
There are two main options with two sub-options under each:
Orthodontics (conventional or aligner), or
Build up the teeth (composite or porcelain)
By the end of the 45 minutes the patient and their mother were bored and confused. They had no idea what was going on.
The dentist sat back with a smile and asked: “Well, what would you like to do?”
The patient’s reply was obvious and frustrating: “We’d like to go home and think about it.”
What a waste of time!
I’m going to suggest to you that you need to use an absolute maximum of 2 minutes to explain treatment to patients.
Any more than that and two things will happen. Firstly, the patient is much more likely to be bored and confused. Confused people will not be able to make a decision.
Secondly, your overhead ratio will be high. Typically it costs $200 to $300 per chair per hour for overheads. If you take 30 minutes to explain treatment you have just given away $100 to $150.
Need to know
I think patients should be on a “need to know” basis. Tell them only the thing that they really “need to know”. Nothing more, nothing less.
Discipling yourself in this way makes your communication much more powerful. Every work must be carefully chosen.
Over the next month or so I’m going to give some further ideas to help you keep treatment discussions short.
